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Aug 4, 2010 at 12:22 AM

WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans presented dueling portraits Tuesday of Elena Kagan and the Supreme Court she’s seeking to join at the start of a politically charged debate over her fitness to be a justice, making what amounted to closing arguments before a near-certain confirmation vote by week’s end.

Democrats praised President Barack Obama’s nominee as a highly qualified legal scholar who would add a sorely needed note of fairness and common sense to a court they described as dominated by a conservative majority run amok.

“She’ll base her approach to deciding cases on the law and the Constitution, not on politics, not on an ideological agenda,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He said today’s Supreme Court is populated by “activist conservative members” who substitute their own judgment for lawmakers’.

Republicans countered that Kagan is an inexperienced, disingenuous nominee who would abuse her post by bending the law to suit a liberal agenda.

“I don’t think it’s a secret. I think this is pretty well known that this is not a judge committed to restraint, (or) objectivity,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Judiciary Committee Republican. Her past actions and testimony indicate she’d be “an activist, liberal, progressive, politically minded judge who will not be happy simply to decide cases but will seek to advance her causes under the guise of judging.”

Even her harshest critics acknowledged there was no doubt about the debate’s outcome and the vote expected Thursday.

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in San Francisco has reached a decision in a landmark case on whether California’s same-sex marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay men and lesbians.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker will issue his ruling today, said Lynn Fuller, a U.S. District Court spokeswoman.

The decision came in a lawsuit brought by two same-sex couples seeking to overturn California’s voter-approved Proposition 8, which outlaws gay marriage.

Both sides previously said an appeal was certain if Walker did not rule in their favor. The case would go first to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, then the Supreme Court if the high court justices agree to review it.

Walker presided over a 13-day trial that was the first in federal court to examine if states can prohibit gays from getting married.

Supporters argued the ban was necessary to safeguard the tradition of marriage and encourage responsible childbearing.

Opponents said that tradition or fears of harm to heterosexual unions were legally insufficient grounds to discriminate against gay couples.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Singer Wyclef Jean is about to announce his candidacy for president of earthquake-ravaged Haiti, the former head of the country’s Chamber of Deputies said Tuesday.

Former Deputy Pierre Eric Jean-Jacques said that the hip hop artist will run as part of his coalition in the Nov. 28 election.

Jean spokeswoman Cindy Tanenbaum declined to confirm the report. She said the singer would make an announcement Thursday night in Haiti, but declined to elaborate.

Jean-Jacques, who will be seeking to return to the Chamber of Deputies in the election, confirmed he will be a candidate as part of a new coalition that calls itself “Ansanm Nou Fo,” which translates as “together we are strong” in Creole.

Jean is popular in Haiti for his music and for his work through his charity “Yele Haiti,” which collected millions after the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 300,000 people and knocked down most of the government ministries and many of the homes in the capital.

ADEISSEH, Lebanon — Lebanese and Israeli troops exchanged fire Tuesday in a fierce border battle that killed a senior Israeli officer, two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist — underlining how easily tensions can re-ignite along the frontier where Israel and Hezbollah fought a war four years ago.

It was the worst fighting since 2006 in the area, where Israeli and Lebanese soldiers patrol within shouting distance of each other, separated by the U.N.-drawn Blue Line boundary.

The fighting flared into Israeli tank, helicopter and artillery strikes near this Lebanese town, but ended after several hours and there was no sign that either side was preparing to escalate.

The clashes began after an Israeli soldier tried to remove a tree along the border, something the military has done in the past to improve its sightlines into Lebanon.

But both sides claimed the tree was in their territory.

From Associated Press reports.

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